President Biden is nearing a formal launch of his reelection campaign and may do so as early as next week in a video release, multiple sources tell CBS News.
One source familiar with the planning tells CBS News that the Biden team is aiming to release the reelection announcement video on Tuesday, Apr. 25, but President Biden himself has not yet officially signed off on the timing. The president is going to Camp David with staff and family this weekend, where presumably this will be a major topic of conversation.
Tuesday is the most likely date because it marks the anniversary of the day he announced his last presidential bid, Apr. 25, 2019, also by video. But a party operative cautioned that the date and format of the announcement “could change.”
“This has been a rolling piece of ice for a few days,” the operative added, emphasizing the fluidity of such an announcement.
The video is in production, according to a senior Democratic source who was briefed on it a few hours ago. The president has also not yet signed off on the video, the source said.
The Washington Post first reported the latest iteration of the president’s campaign plans, which have been the subject of great debate at the White House among his closest aides and across the Democratic Party for several months.
White House officials declined to confirm the report.
The president is also hosting major campaign bundlers in Washington next week, with an event including the president on Friday and continuing during the daytime on Saturday. Top administration officials, including some Cabinet secretaries would brief donors, according to multiple Democrats familiar with the plans.
One of the Democrats said they were invited by way of a phone call — no written invitation is being circulated in order to keep details of the gathering more discreet.
The retreat coincides with the weekend of the White House Correspondents’ dinner, when many top party donors from New York and the West coast are already scheduled to be in town for various events and the dinner itself.
Should he win the presidency, Mr. Biden, now 80, would be 82 years of age at the beginning of a second term and 86 by the end of it. He is already the oldest man ever to win the presidency.
Other longshot Democratic candidates are the self-help guru Marianne Williamson and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy.
Former President Trump, now 76, was the first candidate to declare a 2024 White House bid. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is also running, as is former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson. Other Republicans including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott have not yet announced whether they will run.
The president has delayed the announcement of his reelection bid, relying on his ability to tout his agenda and blast Republicans in official speeches against the backdrop of the presidential seal.
Mr. Biden will run with significant legislative achievements, but even so, high inflation is still hurting American budgets and there is a special counsel investigation into the discovery of classified documents at his former private office and Wilmington home. A reelection announcement next week would also come as Democrats and Republicans appear to be in a stalemate over how to raise the debt ceiling before the nation risks a potentially catastrophic default.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat from Silicon Valley, told CBS News in January that centrist Democrats could pose the biggest political threat to Mr. Biden in a 2024 presidential primary race. And Khanna believes fellow Biden allies shouldn’t dismiss the possibility that Sen. Joe Manchin, a centrist Democrat from West Virginia, or someone like him would challenge the president. The California Democrat said he doesn’t think Mr. Biden will face a serious primary challenge from the left.
Arden Farhi contributed to this report.
